By Rebekah Bradway

November 17, 2006 | PARADISE -- Approval for a conditional-use permit that allows a caretaker to live in a separate dwelling on a resident's property is still pending further research and discussion by the Town Council.

The council, which heard the original request in its meeting on Nov. 1, conversed further on the topic during a meeting Wednesday.

Roland Leishman explained to the council in the previous meeting his need for another person to help him take care of a family member with health problems. He said the caretaker could live in a separate dwelling he owned on his property.

"I really have a problem with this building that's never had a building permit being made into a family dwelling," Councilman Dale Anderson said.

According to Paradise zoning ordinances, no more than one dwelling should occupy a lot. The council said the building separate from the house was originally for meat-cutting and packing, not to be used as a dwelling.

"How do we help people have the quality of life?" Councilwoman Margaret Obray asked. "If you can live at home instead of a nursing home, it's a better quality of life. These laws are written for the people, not the people for the laws."

Obray is in the process of researching what ordinances other cities and towns have that might apply to the current situation.

If the council issued a conditional-use permit, it would be contingent on the family member's health problems; as soon as the caretaker wasn't needed, the permit would be void.

Before anyone can live in the building, the council said, it must have an occupancy permit and be up to health codes. "We shouldn't be giving a structure a permit if it's not up to minimum codes," Mayor Lee Atwood said.

The council decided to send a letter to Leishman that says he needs to show them a copy of a permit of occupancy issued by a building official.

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